Manchester United's FA Cup TV run finally coming to an end

One of football’s most infamous runs will finally come to an end in January when Manchester United’s FA Cup third-round match against Derby County will not be televised.

A report in the Daily Telegraph says the game at Old Trafford on January 6 has been passed over for TV coverage – if so it will be the first time in 58 matches that one of their FA Cup fixtures has not been broadcast.

As the Telegraph explains, “Their non-selection next month follows a backlash last year against their mundane third-round home clash against Reading being picked ahead of National League Sutton United’s more romantic encounter with AFC Wimbledon.”

Telegraph reporter Ben Rumsby also has the exclusive that the third-round match between Brighton and Crystal Palace will be the first in English history to feature the VAR system.

All the matches televised on BT Sport and the BBC over the third-round weekend will feature VAR, except the Merseyside derby on Friday, January 5, as the game has been “deemed too high-profile a fixture to conduct English football’s first live VAR test”.